Early Guest Review – Touch of the Demon

Doug Meeks kindly sent over a review for Diana Rowland‘s upcoming Touch of the Demon, which will be released at the end of the year (fella has connections). Like Doug said, it gives people who haven’t read the earlier books a chance to get caught up on the series. Looks like another one I am going to have to try to add to the mountain.

What Doug said…

NOTE/DISCLAIMER: This is the 5th book in an exceptional series that I highly recommend so obviously I would stress that you read the other 4 books prior to this one. (all of which are exceptional reading, no bad novels in this series). Additionally, I do NOT read books about the occult, the summoning and such in these novels is more akin to a science and the demons are denizens of another world who can only travel to this world with the help of “summoners”. I thought I should mention that to anyone like myself that tend to avoid the occult. I was furnished this ARC by the author unconditionally. I highly suggest you get this series and start reading, it is exceptional.
Series reading order at this link: (with some excerpts)http://www.dianarowland.com/index.html

SUMMARY:Kara Gillian is in Seriously Deep Trouble.She’s used to summoning supernatural creatures from the demon realm to our world, but now she’s the one who’s been summoned. Kara is the prisoner of the demonic Lord Mzatal, but quickly discovers that she’s far more than a mere hostage. He has his own plans to use Kara and keep her from Rhyzkahl-the demonic lord she is sworn to serve. However, waiting for rescue has never been Kara’s style, and she has no intention of being a pawn in someone else’s game.

Yet intrigue and treachery run rampant among all lords, and Kara is hard pressed to keep her wits about her. Her abilities as a homicide detective are put the test as she seeks the truth about FBI Agent Ryan Kristoff, Rhyzkahl, and herself. But, the answers she finds only raise more questions. She soon discovers that she has her own history in the demon realm-one that goes back farther than she could have ever imagined. But that history may yet spell her doom as she’s faced with a peril beyond mortal comprehension.

She’s going to need all the strength and tenacity she’s developed as a cop and a summoner, or the hell she endures may well last forever.

REVIEW:

Well folks, Kara has stumbled into the worst time of her life in this book, for those that read Sins of the Demon (book #4) of this series and screamed like I did at the horrible cliffhanger ending, this should help a bit.

Kara finds herself betrayed, imprisoned, and used as a pawn in struggles that began long before she was born. For those of you that love angst, pain and torture; you will get your fill, for those (like me) who want revenge, uh, justice, you will get that in ways you never expected (I mean it, you NEVER expected). Let us not forget the bit of passion and near erotic nature of previous novels, yep, that is here also, what’s not to love?

You should be forewarned that this book is going to be more of an independent novel in comparison to the previous books and I suppose it was needed to keep the series from becoming stale. The changes here will breathe fresh air into an already exceptional series for several more novels.

The myriad plots and subplots that Ms Rowland throws out throughout the book keep you guessing and also provide enough action for her to do some new world building and fill in some history of this new world without boring the reader. Additionally, revelations concerning instances of Kara’s own recent history previously hidden will be revealed, almost NOTHING is as it seemed. If this review seems lacking in details it is because almost anything more would be a spoiler because so much is changing in the life of Kara Gillian, change can be uplifting, powerful and breathtaking …… but there is always a painful price to pay. For those geeks among us, this is Kara Gillian 2.0 but make no mistake, the end goal is always to get back home.

RATING:

This is a well crafted novel that serves the purpose of soothing readers that were less than happy about the ending of Sins of the Demon (book #4) and takes the series off in new directions while holding the same level of excellent writing exhibited in previous novels. Fans of this series are going to love this, there may be some stress and concern in the early and middle portions of the book but you will cheer the ending …… trust me 🙂 The level of surprises in this novel do not allow me to describe much of the story, you will just have to take the ride. 5 Star reading and twists you NEVER thought of are coming …..

4 thoughts on “Early Guest Review – Touch of the Demon”

“I think the White Trash Zombies look like fun, too.” – I have read those also and they are also “not what you might think”, they are not a grossfest, they are crafted novels that are more of a murder mystery in theme (of course there is the heroine zombie that is normal BTW most of the time) and some imagination that leaves you in awe. If I can get time I might try to write a series review of the Zombie books (only 2 of them) and the last one had one of the best endings I can recall in months (years?). If you are expecting something akin to “The Walking Dead” you will be disappointed, these are well plotted novels that have a less gross version of zombies (but she works in a morgue so, that kinda takes care of itself:)